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Hasn't been since 1983,

The subsidy was temporary and lasted during the duration of "The Postal Service Reorganisation Act" from 1971 to 1983. The rest of its history, the mail has paid for itself by selling postage, and it still does. See the USPS History page.

And the Federal government has provided plenty of subsidies to telcom and internet infrastructure.

But I do agree with (most of) your argument, just not your examples.

Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 137 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of postal services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves 7 million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.

It's a ZIP only. I don't even know my ZIP+4.

You can look up your ZIP+4 code here.

Enjoy!

Nice thought... but its like the metric system. Who will want to change what they have known for many a lifetime.

According to the US Postal Service, the US's ZIP code wasn't used until July 1, 1963. That's about four years before MY birth... Although it was not required at first, it meant that people that were able to write letters before the middle of 1963 were forced to learn something new to send mail!

To furthur make my point, the ZIP+4 system was introduced in 1984. The +4 stuff is still not required, but if you are a business, you know about the incentives in using the extra numbers.

I know my 60 year old dad who does carpentry will never learn the metric system, even though it would be easier, why would he, or the millions like him want to learn a new addressing scheme?

Because if the Postal Service required it, it would have to be used. Of course, with something like the proposal that spawned this whole conversation, I doubt it would take. The system might do the job of describing where things are going, but (1) it's not really legible, (2) it's tough to remember, (3) Americans will take to having letters in their Postal Code when Canada agrees to sell their land to them. One can work around #1 and #2, but I don't see #3 happening any time soon... I can't imagine "the State of Alberta"...

Nice thought... but its like the metric system. Who will want to change what they have known for many a lifetime.

According to the US Postal Service, the US's ZIP code wasn't used until July 1, 1963. That's about four years before MY birth... Although it was not required at first, it meant that people that were able to write letters before the middle of 1963 were forced to learn something new to send mail!

To furthur make my point, the ZIP+4 system was introduced in 1984. The +4 stuff is still not required, but if you are a business, you know about the incentives in using the extra numbers.

I know my 60 year old dad who does carpentry will never learn the metric system, even though it would be easier, why would he, or the millions like him want to learn a new addressing scheme?

Because if the Postal Service required it, it would have to be used. Of course, with something like the proposal that spawned this whole conversation, I doubt it would take. The system might do the job of describing where things are going, but (1) it's not really legible, (2) it's tough to remember, (3) Americans will take to having letters in their Postal Code when Canada agrees to sell their land to them. One can work around #1 and #2, but I don't see #3 happening any time soon... I can't imagine "the State of Alberta"...

Actually, zip codes are still kinda new. They started when your dad was 20: July 1st, 1963, and not mandatory for 2nd & 3rd class mailers until 4 years later. So, it's been in use for only 40 of the post office's 228 years of existence.

Not to nitpick, but how could someone know something for "many a lifetime"? It's a cool idea, and I'd love to be able to implement it!

Not quite... taken from USPS

Q. Why are ZIP+4 Codes used?

A. In 1983, the Postal Service began using an expanded ZIP Code called "ZIP+4." A ZIP+4 Code consists of the original 5-digit ZIP Code plus a 4-digit add-on code. The 4-digit add-on number identifies a geographic segment within the 5-digit delivery area, such as a city block, office building, individual high-volume receiver of mail, or any other unit that would aid efficient mail sorting and delivery. Use of the 4-digit add-on is not mandatory, but it helps the Postal Service direct mail more efficiently and accurately because it reduces handling and significantly decreases the potential for human error and possibility of misdelivery. It also will lead to better control over USPS costs and, in turn, postage rate stability. ZIP+4 is intended for use primarily by business mailers who prepare their mail with typewritten, machine-printed, or computerized addressing formats that can be read by the Postal Service's automated scanners during processing. Mailers who qualify receive a rate discount on First-Class, non-presorted, ZIP+4 mailings of at least 250 pieces and on presorted ZIP+4 mailings of at least 500 pieces. There are also ZIP+4 discounts for bulk business mail.

ZIP+4 does not resolve to a single house. It resolves to a block of houses, or in the case of apartments, a group of apartments.

Check the related USPS FAQ about ZIP+4 codes.

Q. Why are ZIP+4 Codes used?
A. In 1983, the Postal Service began using an expanded ZIP Code called "ZIP+4." A ZIP+4 Code consists of the original 5-digit ZIP Code plus a 4-digit add-on code. The 4-digit add-on number identifies a geographic segment within the 5-digit delivery area, such as a city block, office building, individual high-volume receiver of mail, or any other unit that would aid efficient mail sorting and delivery.

So turn the tables on them. That's what USPS Form 1500, Application for Listing & Prohibitory Order (pdf), is for.

As has been pointed out by others, if you see someone stealing mail, call the Postal Inspectors. They will be glad to bust them, stealing mail is a serious crime, and they have a conviction rate of about 85%

While the USPS is required to follow a bazillion federal statutes/guidelines/regulations etc. it is technically not part of the government. (Note the first line, "an independent establishment"

I've rented over a hundred movies from Netflix and never had one go missing. If you suspect they're being stolen, contact a Postal Inspector. That's what they're for.

The reason it has been able to work well is [...]

Here's the other reason.

The US postal system has been separated from the teet. The reason it has been able to work well is that it receives acts in a vaccuum. I believe that it receives no money from the government, and keeps the profit within the system. Its like a giant non-profit company owned by the federal government. It does have its problems though. The regulation that it does have has caused problems. Just do a search on google for: united states postal service business model

and if you are intrested in how the USPS is organized, look here.

Then, though I'm not a specialist, you CAN run some sort of internet service WITHOUT an ISP, right? From what I understood, my airport base station allows me to "PPP dial-in", which means I can connect to my home network through any telephone line, without an ISP. There probably are a lot of modems (all of them?) around that support dial-in and line pickup: you have a (slow) computer-to-computer connection with no ISP involved. Add SSH and crypto, and you have a "fairly secure" connection (unless, of course, the feds decide to wiretap phone connections as well, which is probably what is happening with projects such as Carnivore/TIA...)

OR, you could try moving to Europe, but do it quick before our own Beloved Leaders® figure out how they can use this brand new Cisco hardware.

"On another note", I wonder if all this is really intented to fight terrorists, criminals and druglords... Read this (article says that some narco kingpin in Colombia managed, in 1998, to deploy a wireless computer network that ranged "across the Caribbean and the upper half of South America.", and that could be accessed to with laptops, even in planes and boats) to see what I mean: evildoers (maybe not Al-Qaeda and such, but who knows?) probably use alternate methods for their most important communications. So why do they bother wiretapping ISP's? Wouldn't it be wiser to try and bust these alternate networks (if there still are)?

Time to try... snail mail! --El Ganzo Loco

In fact, searching zip code 92504 for cities using this tool they provide reveals the following data for zip 92504:

92504 is associated with the following Cities/Towns:

RIVERSIDE CA ACCEPTABLE (DEFAULT) STANDARD
CASA BLANCA CA NOT ACCEPTABLE - USE RIVERSIDE STANDARD
HARDMAN CENTER CA NOT ACCEPTABLE - USE RIVERSIDE STANDARD
WOODCREST CA NOT ACCEPTABLE - USE RIVERSIDE STANDARD

Furthermore, 916 area code is for the Sacramento area - about 8 hours north of Riverside CA, which is about 1 hour east of Los Angeles and uses A/C 909.

QED, whois info is not always the most reliable. Next, please.

Actually the USPS does. Sort of. File a ps1500 http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf form at your local post office. It's a form stating that someone has been sending obcene mail. The government can't define to you what is obcene and so, poof! No more mail from that person. You need to file a ps1500 for each sender, so it's an annoyance that is probably more trouble than it's worth. However, it's now a crime for that person/company to send you any more mail.

Ad J. Scheepbouwer, CEO of the Netherlands' post, TPG, predicted that "In the future there will be just four Super Posts, and the sleeping giant of the United States Postal Service will not be one of them."

Why does the USPS need to get it's act together? you cite that our already privatzed postal service is the envy of the world, but why say it needs to get its act together? They are efficient, statistically reliable (anecdotes about US mail getting lost are mere, well, anecdotes) and very cheap.

Because it's losing money. They lost quite a bit last year.

Also, if you've ever waited in line at a post office, you know that some aspects of their service are not exactly the model of efficiency. :)

>There's no law against sending unsolicited postal mail, so far as I know.

There is, but it's opt-out.

Enjoy! Don't forget to send it to Wal-Mart for their bra advertisements!

You forgot:

* True patriots do not get their mail Hax0red

This is because all parcels exchanged by fascist, acronym bearing government agencies and private mail receptacles are monitored closely by heavily armed militiamen. Anything less and the terrorists will win.

I posted much the same message on the OC Systems thread yesterday, but it also applies here. There seem to be a lot of "Yeah, I got ripped off, but eBay wouldn't do anything about it so now I'm hosed" responses. If you've been ripped off, COMPLAIN. Complain to the company first, but if they don't give you any satisfaction, have the charge blocked on your credit card. If that isn't enough, or that isn't an option, then you need to bring out the big guns and rat them out to the feds! And here are just the websites to do it on:

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFra udComplaint.htm: The US Postal Inspector's Mail Fraud Report Form. I've used this for a few small value (less than $50) items I've returned to ebay merchants who then didn't send the refund despite repeated e-mails and phone calls. After complaining to the USPS, the rip-off artist got a letter from them and paid up darn quick. And you CAN follow up if no action is taken. I have a lot of criticisms of the U.S. Snail, but this is one area where government action actually seems to work.

https://www.ifccfbi.gov/cf1.asp : The FBI's Fraud Complaint Form. The FBI seems a lot less active in prosecuting small cases than USPS, but i get the impression that if they get a LOT of complaints from people on the same company, they start to look in on it. Worth a try.

Remember: Every time you let someone rip you off without calling them on it, it makes it that much easier for them to rip off other people down the line.

A lot of comments on this thread (and pages linked from same) seem to indicate that OC Systems are rip-off artists. While I have no way of knowing whether this is true or not, I am rather disheartened by the "Yeah, I got ripped off, but I'm just going to suck up and take it and never buy anything from them again" responses I've seen. If you've been ripped off, COMPLAIN. Complain to the company first, but if they don't give you any satisfaction, have the charge blocked on your credit card. If that isn't enough, or that isn't an option, then you need to bring out the big guns and rat them out to the feds! And here are just the websites to do it on:

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFra udComplaint.htm: The US Postal Inspector's Mail Fraud Report Form. I've used this for a few small value (less than $50) items I've returned to ebay merchants who then didn't send the refund despite repeated e-mails and phone calls. After complaining to the USPS, the rip-off artist got a letter from them and paid up darn quick. And you CAN follow up if no action is taken. I have a lot of criticisms of the U.S. Snail, but this is one area where government action actually seems to work.

https://www.ifccfbi.gov/cf1.asp: The FBI's Fraud Complaint Form. The FBI seems a lot less active in prosecuting small cases than USPS, but i get the impression that if they get a LOT of complaints from people on the same company, they start to look in on it. Worth a try.

Remember: Every time you let someone rip you off without calling them on it, it makes it that much easier for them to rip off other people down the line.

I wonder if a post office has ever been slashdotted before...

The answer is no, and nor will one ever be. That would require geeks to actually let go of the mouse, turn away from the monitor, pick up a pen, and maybe even [gasp] leave the house to buy stamps or get to the mailbox.

Silly! USPS NetPost / Mailing Online.

P.S.: They keep changing all the USPS addresses to .com. Don't worry: the government isn't trying to privatize the post office - they're just thinking about it a lot!

I wonder if a post office has ever been slashdotted before...

The answer is no, and nor will one ever be. That would require geeks to actually let go of the mouse, turn away from the monitor, pick up a pen, and maybe even [gasp] leave the house to buy stamps or get to the mailbox.

Silly! USPS NetPost / Mailing Online.

P.S.: They keep changing all the USPS addresses to .com. Don't worry: the government isn't trying to privatize the post office - they're just thinking about it a lot!

According to this post, the Joke Tracking Center can be contacted at:

Joke Tracking Center
PO Box 011509
Miami, FL 33101

Looks like it's time to send one of those USPS postcards that you can send online...

and here's the corrected address:

JOKE TRACKING CENTER
PO BOX 11509
MIAMI FL 33101-1509

Now let's all be good citizens and send our fritzspotting records to Dave! I wonder if a post office has ever been slashdotted before...

Actually, it isnt. The ole USPS has addressed this, and there _IS_ a standardized format. You can purchase software to "sanitize" your lists and make them match any other sanitized list. It's actually mandatory for bulk mailing rates.

If you are a true sadist, you can read about it here

http://www.house.gov/writerep/ lets anyone find out who the US congressional representative is for a given area. However, in densely populated areas, you'll first need the complete Zip+4 postal code.

• Congress to Block Imaginary Internet Tax Bill from the Washington Post
• E-mail Rumor Completely Untrue from the United States Postal Service
• E-mail Tax Hoax from the US Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability
• No Consumer Per-Minute Charges to Access ISPs from the Federal Communications Commission

I hate to say this, but the idea of doing this in the Phillipines (especially the imposition by a non-Phillipine organization) makes the the referenced newspaper article sound like a hoax too.

I can easily mail an unsealed empty envelope to myself (with enough postage to cover additional non-existent weight) ... then down the line, just drop something into the envelope and seal it.

That's why you use certified mail. It costs more, but it's sealed by the post office to provide proof of mailing. They also have a new service where you can e-mail them a document and they'll mail it for you. You don't even have to go to the post office.

http://www.usps.com/netpost/certifiedmail_faq.htm

Sorry, I'm not that familiar with internet bureacracy, but what exactly is so suspicious about that whois record? For the record, the address and zip code appear to be valid, as does the area code.

The United States Postal Service is not a governmental or federal organization, and they haven't been since July 1st, 1971. Prior to this date they were a government agency (known as The Post Office Department), but now they're an independent agency.

Operational authority of the USPS rests with a Board of Governors and Postal Service management, instead of Congress. The US President is responsible to appoint nine of those Governors. So, there are still ties to the US Government, but they're independent.

No one's gonna read this, but them's the facts. More information is available at http://www.usps.com/history/his3.htm. Enjoy.

Emmett Plant
Use Vorbis to listen to my music!

Snail mail is a bit harder to get rid of though because there is no Procmail equivalant

If the junk mailers are getting especially obnoxious, you can file a Form 1500 with the USPS. Makes it illegal for them to keep mailing you.

Here is the zip code for Robert Harrison & Assoc so you can be sure your gifts get there:

2550 S TELEGRAPH RD STE 275
BLOOMFIELD HILLS MI 48302-0908

This tidbit from the usps.

The USPS has not received tax money for operating expenses since 1982 (see here). Furthermore, people who send real-world junk-mail pay for the postage and the mailing. It's probably one of the bigger money makers for the USPS. If they didn't, it would have been stopped long ago.

E-mail spam is theft of service, pure and simple: the people sending the spam aren't paying the full cost.

I hate government intervention in the markets and involving the FBI should be an absolute nightmare to anyone with even a bit of libertarian in his heart.

So, libertarians now endorse theft because stopping it would restrict the liberty of the thief? I guess that sums up the internal contradictions of libertarianism as well as anything.

Well, we could all file USPS form 1500 (Application for Listing and/or Prohibitory Order for unwanted sexually oriented advertising in your mail).

That would be somewhere in:

18 U.S.C. 1700 Desertion of mail
18 U.S.C. 1701 Obstruction of mail generally
18 U.S.C. 1702 Obstruction of correspondence
18 U.S.C. 1703 Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers
and/or
18 U.S.C. 1708 Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally

http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/usc18/ welcome1.htm

I have to agree with the victim in the story, it's very bad policy to just collect Email for their own uses.. If I'm an ISP, and you're a customer, when you're no longer a customer, should I collect and potentially read your personal Email? No. When you're no longer a customer, I should delete your account, and let the SMTP server handle the bonuce-backs..

This says the receiver isn't valid.
---
>>> RCPT To:
>>> DATA
550 5.1.1 ... User unknown
---

This says the receiver *IS* valid.
---
>>> RCPT To:
>>> DATA
250 2.1.5 ... Recipient ok
----

I would accept the second to receive my message and respond if they were interested. The first will generate an error in my box, where I'll know to contact them in other ways..

As far as the job opprotunity was concerned, she didn't respond because she wasn't interested. And that's the ISP's fault for accepting the Email for a closed account. I don't know that it should be a law, but if that's what it takes to get ISP's to fix their flawed policies, so be it.

They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.

Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)

(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))

Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.

They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.

Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)

(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))

Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.

They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.

Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)

(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))

Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.

They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.

Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)

(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))

Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.

They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.

Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)

(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))

Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.

Now consider another thing: not only do you get it for free, but the sender is spending exorbiant amounts of money on their junk mail! There's the cost of typesetting, printing, binding, and then there's the postage, which is a minimum of US$.15 per article. So let's say it is going to cost them US$.20 (20 cents) per mailer.

Take for instance the perennial Pennysaver, which is broadcast to everybody with an address. Harte-Hankes, their owner, is broadcasting this to every resident with a postal address, General Delivery addresses excepted, once per week. Now lets consider that in Anaheim, CA there are around 350,000 people covering 11-12 zip codes. In short, Harte-Hankes is spending US$70,000 per week to send a circular - that's US$3,640,300 PER YEAR in postage for the circulars alone, including the $150 fee for the permit to send bulk mail and another $150 fee for a permit to send the mail with a "postage paid" indicia on it (in lieu of a stamp or meter mark). That's in Anaheim ALONE, so you can imagine how much it costs to send these out once per week throughout the United States. It is on this kind of stuff that your mailman is making his bread and butter - you think your $.37 stamp for sending off the money to the phone company is keeping him fed?

So now that we have established that companies who spam your snail mail box spend exorbiant amounts of money in merely dropping this stuff at the post office, let's consider how much a spammer spends on his spam run:

$19.95 per month for his internet connection on a reputable ISP

$300 for a mass-mailing package if he gets one from another spammer

$600 on a decent computer with the latest greatest Windoze version

So this guy made a one-time go of $900, and if he is lucky he'll spend a total of $39.90 because his ISP overlooks him for a month. (Or worse, he has a contract that exempts him from the TOS rules and is perpetually on until somebody sues his ass blue.)

So this guy is making a trivial investment and gets to distribute the cost of his stupidity over the entire 'net.

More information can be found on the United States Postal Service website, and postage rates for US Domestic mail can be reviewed by looking at a PDF of USPS Notice 123 (WARNING: PDF LINK).

Now consider another thing: not only do you get it for free, but the sender is spending exorbiant amounts of money on their junk mail! There's the cost of typesetting, printing, binding, and then there's the postage, which is a minimum of US$.15 per article. So let's say it is going to cost them US$.20 (20 cents) per mailer.

Take for instance the perennial Pennysaver, which is broadcast to everybody with an address. Harte-Hankes, their owner, is broadcasting this to every resident with a postal address, General Delivery addresses excepted, once per week. Now lets consider that in Anaheim, CA there are around 350,000 people covering 11-12 zip codes. In short, Harte-Hankes is spending US$70,000 per week to send a circular - that's US$3,640,300 PER YEAR in postage for the circulars alone, including the $150 fee for the permit to send bulk mail and another $150 fee for a permit to send the mail with a "postage paid" indicia on it (in lieu of a stamp or meter mark). That's in Anaheim ALONE, so you can imagine how much it costs to send these out once per week throughout the United States. It is on this kind of stuff that your mailman is making his bread and butter - you think your $.37 stamp for sending off the money to the phone company is keeping him fed?

So now that we have established that companies who spam your snail mail box spend exorbiant amounts of money in merely dropping this stuff at the post office, let's consider how much a spammer spends on his spam run:

$19.95 per month for his internet connection on a reputable ISP

$300 for a mass-mailing package if he gets one from another spammer

$600 on a decent computer with the latest greatest Windoze version

So this guy made a one-time go of $900, and if he is lucky he'll spend a total of $39.90 because his ISP overlooks him for a month. (Or worse, he has a contract that exempts him from the TOS rules and is perpetually on until somebody sues his ass blue.)

So this guy is making a trivial investment and gets to distribute the cost of his stupidity over the entire 'net.

More information can be found on the United States Postal Service website, and postage rates for US Domestic mail can be reviewed by looking at a PDF of USPS Notice 123 (WARNING: PDF LINK).

If your brick weighs more than one pound (grep for "Drop Off"), then you'll have to take it to the post office, thanks to Ted Kaczynski.

There's a lot of data available at here, including audited quarterly and annual financial statements and Revenue, Pieces and Weight reports, which provide statistics for revenue, total weight and number of pieces for every class and subclass of mail. Someone with the time and interest should be able to put together an interesting analysis of the situation based on this data. Unfortunately, I am not that person, so you're on your own.

However, I will engage in a bit of largely unsubstantiated conjecture. Take a look at the discussion in this part (pdf) of the 2001 annual report. Note how they point out that 1.7 million new addresses were introduced over the year, and go on to mention costs associated with servicing these new addresses ($600 million a year for new facility space alone). They also mention that falling volume makes it more difficult to meet the costs of the increasing network of addresses. This suggests that at current volume, USPS costs are predominately fixed costs, meaning that volume increases have a net positive effect on profitability.

Overall, what I get from this is that the fixed costs largely derive from the size of the network of deliverable addresses, and regular first-class mail and bulk mail each contribute more or less equally towards those fixed costs relative to volume. This means that no side is subsidizing the other; it's really a symbiotic relationship in which costs are reduced for all sides by the existence of a shared delivery network.

There's a lot of data available at here, including audited quarterly and annual financial statements and Revenue, Pieces and Weight reports, which provide statistics for revenue, total weight and number of pieces for every class and subclass of mail. Someone with the time and interest should be able to put together an interesting analysis of the situation based on this data. Unfortunately, I am not that person, so you're on your own.

However, I will engage in a bit of largely unsubstantiated conjecture. Take a look at the discussion in this part (pdf) of the 2001 annual report. Note how they point out that 1.7 million new addresses were introduced over the year, and go on to mention costs associated with servicing these new addresses ($600 million a year for new facility space alone). They also mention that falling volume makes it more difficult to meet the costs of the increasing network of addresses. This suggests that at current volume, USPS costs are predominately fixed costs, meaning that volume increases have a net positive effect on profitability.

Overall, what I get from this is that the fixed costs largely derive from the size of the network of deliverable addresses, and regular first-class mail and bulk mail each contribute more or less equally towards those fixed costs relative to volume. This means that no side is subsidizing the other; it's really a symbiotic relationship in which costs are reduced for all sides by the existence of a shared delivery network.

There's a lot of data available at here, including audited quarterly and annual financial statements and Revenue, Pieces and Weight reports, which provide statistics for revenue, total weight and number of pieces for every class and subclass of mail. Someone with the time and interest should be able to put together an interesting analysis of the situation based on this data. Unfortunately, I am not that person, so you're on your own.

However, I will engage in a bit of largely unsubstantiated conjecture. Take a look at the discussion in this part (pdf) of the 2001 annual report. Note how they point out that 1.7 million new addresses were introduced over the year, and go on to mention costs associated with servicing these new addresses ($600 million a year for new facility space alone). They also mention that falling volume makes it more difficult to meet the costs of the increasing network of addresses. This suggests that at current volume, USPS costs are predominately fixed costs, meaning that volume increases have a net positive effect on profitability.

Overall, what I get from this is that the fixed costs largely derive from the size of the network of deliverable addresses, and regular first-class mail and bulk mail each contribute more or less equally towards those fixed costs relative to volume. This means that no side is subsidizing the other; it's really a symbiotic relationship in which costs are reduced for all sides by the existence of a shared delivery network.